Category Archives: chocolate covered caramels

At $3.99 a pop I thought these deserved a try. There are seven servings in a 10 ounce bag, with each portion containing about 11 almonds. The nuts are fairly uniform in size, though some are a bit smaller or larger than their siblings.

This is a bite sized version of an almond turtle: chocolate, caramel and roasted nuts. The addition of sea salt adds a welcome piquancy. The nuts are super crunchy and have a deeply roasted flavor, while the caramel has just the right level of chewiness: not hard enough to loosen your fillings, not so soft that you need to floss afterwards.

Between the caramel and the milk chocolate, these are a bit sweet (18 grams of sugar per serving) but not cloyingly so. I would love to see a 70% cacao version….

Are they called Sweet Buddies because there are two to a pack? Or, is it because they will be your chocolate pals? Maybe, the ingredients are good buddies? Beats me. All I know is they are another great creation from Chocolate Inspirations.

My favorite of the trio has salted vanilla bean caramel paired with roasted peanuts and enrobed in 58% dark chocolate. What makes these extra delicious is the perfectly chewy texture of the caramel. It allows each bite to last a satisfyingly long time. I am always amazed at how a little sea salt can both highlight the individual flavors and then corral them into a fiesta of complex flavors. Heaven!

I liked the sublime combination of salted vanilla caramel and marshmallow in the next bar because the coconut cream came through more strongly. A completely different experience, it seduced me with silky, slightly chewy marshmallow enhanced by the chewier caramel and thick chocolate couverture. Since there are not many marshmallow and chocolate confections available, I would suggest trying these if you love that combo.

Though not enrobed in chocolate, the last duo was salted vanilla caramel and peanut. Even though I am a chocophile, this bar was just wonderful. Without couverture, the saltiness of the caramel was accentuated and highlighted by crunchy nuts.

There was not a weight on the wrapper, though each bar is about 2 ounces, giving you two big portions in each package.

In our current chocolate laden world it is difficult to create something that stands out. Chef Meagan of Amore di Mona has managed to do that with her Madhava agave sweetened dark chocolates and caramels. Using agave gives them a much lower glycemic index and is particularly well suited to caramels.

I sampled the plain dark bar first. With only four grams of sugar in a 35 gram portion, the whole bar, it was just sweet enough to make it a treat, rather than a health food. The agave has an interesting effect on the temper, giving it a slightly creamier texture.

Next up were the two Caramela bars, each weighing in at 64 grams. It’s hard to believe there are only two grams of sugar in each 21 gram square, as they taste rich and immensely satisfying. The very fact that there are three large squares per box makes them a super portable way to enjoy dark chocolate coated caramels. I can easily see taking these along with me to the movies, as their perfectly chewy centers prolongs your enjoyment. The one with cranberries adds an extra layer of sweetness and texture. Using apple juice sweetened cranberries makes these even more crave-worthy, while the addition of organic ground vanilla beans beautifully rounds out the caramel-chocolate flavors.

I also tried their box of assorted chocolates: dark, caramela, caramela with cranberries, caramela with cherries, caramela with crunchy coffee beans, dark with currants, and dark with crunchy coffee beans. The dark chocolates are heart-shaped and very visually appealing. The caramelas are more rectangular. Slightly chewy, creamy caramel blends wonderfully with all the add-ins, though the one that really woke up my taste buds was studded with crunchy coffee beans. What a great juxtaposition of flavors and textures.

Always one to pay attention to packaging, I appreciated the ribbon and seal adorning both boxes.

What entrancing, lovely, fanatsy-like designs these boxes sport. I don’t know about you, but I get plenty of seriousness in a typical day, so whimsey goes a long way. These enchanting watercolors of planes with wings, and other trippy images seemed to set the stage for contemplating chocolate’s ability to transport me from the mundane into realms of gustatory nirvana.

I tried both of their dark caramel filled bars. The one with Black Sea Salt was infused with subtle smokey notes from the Hawaiian lava beds whence the salt is sourced. The 70% dark chocolate’s slightly fruity notes complemented the silky, runny caramel beautifully. Unfortunately, the bar is poorly designed, so when you try to break off one of its eight squares, caramel drips out. An unnecessary mess, as a better design would preclude this. I strongly advise eating every little bit, which requires a plate. Despite that problem, the confection was just marvelous. All the flavors and textures catalyzed each other producing an experience far larger than each on its own could possibly provide. The rendition with Coconut is equally delicious, but different, as it had chewy bits of coconut in every bite.

I have eaten a few of these caramel bars and still find them tantalizing. Considering their high luscious quotient, they have a fairly low sugar content: 13 grams per half bar, or 43 grams. Last but not least, they sell for $1.99.

Chocolate Naive’s new trio of freeze dried blueberries, strawberries, and caramelized hazelnuts in chocolate is a unique addition to the plethora of products vying for your chocolate fund.

Eating even one of the tiny blueberries is like being transported into a fairy tale. Each mini orb an amazing combination of ethereally crunchy, freeze dried blueberries. The texture somehow melts on the tongue, along with 41% Madagascan chocolate, while a little dusting of cocoa provides the perfect hint of intensity. Out of curiosity, I bit into one to discover a shocking burst of magenta, which just added a visual thrill to the whole experience.

The strawberries are Brobdingnagian in comparison to their Lilliputian brethren. With a thicker shell of dark chocolate and a huge berry inside, these confections offer up the essence of strawberry with a super rich dark chocolate. (Can this really be 41% cacao?) These are as different from a fresh strawberry dipped in chocolate as chalk and cheese. I am not a fan of the fresh ones, as they always seem like a mess: fruit juice mingling with broken pieces of chocolate and none of it cohering. Here, you have a seamless marriage of textures, flavors, and the gustatory excitement of something new.

Their chocolate covered caramelized hazelnuts are just divine. Unlike the couverture on the fruits, which tastes like dark chocolate to me, this is a dark milk finished with confectioner’s sugar. The nuts are perfectly roasted and lightly caramelized. Crunchy, creamy textures along with a just sweet enough chocolate shell deliver a supremely satisfying, decadent treat.

One thing that takes all three of these up a notch is the addition of sea salt. It’s the tiniest bit, but it catalyzes the fruit, nuts, chocolate, and sugar into something really remarkable.

Vanessa grew up in Rome, studied Industrial Design, and apprenticed at her parent’s Italian restaurant making desserts and breads. That’s the kind of credibility I find appealing: the interplay between modern with ancient, and discipline with creativity. All of which allows Vanessa to explore every aspect of the chocolate kingdom that piques her interest.

Her sleek looking chocolates, pure little rectangular bars or square caramels presented in the simplest wrappings, beguile you with their unadorned clean lines. Vanessa wants the focus on her delicious treats, not their trappings.

I sampled four small bars from her collection and the Salted Caramels. All are enrobed in a well-balanced dark couverture, and sport two layers: an infused ganache with a topping of gooey caramel. There is no discernible olive oil or coconut milk flavor, though their richness is easily detected.

Whiskey & Smoked Caramel Bar has a marked whiskey taste offset beautifully with textural interest from both the ganache and caramel. Of the four bars, this one has the most pronounced alcohol flavor.

Stout Caramel Ganache is simply divine, as its beery presence mixes with a hint of whiskey. Little bursts of Celtic Grey Sea Salt sprinkled on top provide a perfect gustatory counterpoint to the velvety interior.

Gourmellow :: Vegan Marshmallow Bar has a heaping layer of home made super-fluffy marshmallow on top of that incredibly chocolatey ganache.

Pumpkin Pie Caramel Truffle is a real gem. Redolent of pumpkin, spices, caramel, with a taste that bursts out of its chocolate confines, a truly memorable treat.

Salted Caramels :: Vegan Caramella with Himalayan pink sea salt is a rich dessert in two bites. Fabulous with tea or espresso, they come in a box of six and would make a great stocking stuffer.